BrightSpire Capital, Inc. (BRSP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you. Good day and welcome to the Bright Spire Capital second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. a question you may press star then 1 on your touchstone phone. To withdraw your question please press star then 2. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to David Palame, General Counsel. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to Brightspire Capital's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. We will refer to Brightspire Capital as Brightspire, BRSP or the company throughout this call. Speaking on the call today are the company's Chief Executive Officer Mike Mazze, President and Chief Operating Officer Andy Witt. and Chief Financial Officer Frank Saraceno. Before I hand the call over, please note that on this call, certain information presented contains forward-looking statements. These statements, which are based on management's current expectations, are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Potential risks and uncertainties could cause the company's business and financial results to differ materially. For a discussion of risks that could affect results, please see the risk factors section of our most recent 10-K and other risk factors and forward-looking statements in the company's current and periodic reports filed with the company. with the SEC from time to time. All information discussed on this call is as of today, July 29th, 2026, and the company does not intend and undertakes no duty to update for future events or circumstances. In addition, certain financial information presented on this call represents non-GAAP financial measures. The company's earnings release and supplemental presentation, which was released yesterday afternoon and is available on the company's website, presents reconciliations to the appropriate GAAP measures and an explanation of why the company believes such non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors. Before I turn the call over to Mike, I will provide a brief recap on our results. company reported second quarter gap net loss attributable to common stockholders of $18.3 million or $0.15 per share, distributable earnings of $15.8 million or $0.12 per share, and adjusted distributable earnings of $16.8 million. or 13 cents per share. The company also reported GAAP net book value of $6.81 per share and undepreciated book value of $8.10 per share as of June 30, 2026. Finally, during this call, management may refer to Distributable Earnings at DE. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Mike.

Thanks, David, and welcome to our second quarter 2026 earnings call. We had a very active second quarter. Along with solid loan originations, we completed our largest quarterly share buyback, while our asset management team continued to advance REO and watch list resolutions. Further, we took another meaningful step in rotating out of real estate equity investments and into our core strategy of first mortgage loans. But first, starting with loan originations, we closed 10 loans in the second quarter for $319 million and subsequent to quarter end, we closed an additional three loans for $117 million. Further, we currently have four loans for $178 million in execution. closing these loans, our loan book will be just over $3 billion. Our next milestone for the loan book is $3.5 billion, which we expect to achieve around year-end. Moving to capital deployment, during the quarter we bought back 3.8 million shares for $21 million. We took advantage of what we viewed as a compelling market opportunity, evidenced by extreme high daily trading volumes in our stock during this window. will continue to look at buybacks as the circumstances present themselves. Frank will discuss the details and impact of the buyback. Turning to the sale of Albertson's Triple Net Equity position. Last month we filed a Form 8K disclosing the details of the sale which is expected to close in the third quarter. As noted the sale price was $300 million, inclusive of the assumption of $200 million of CMBS debt. This sale removes refinancing risk associated with the 2028 debt maturity. As a reminder, the current debt interest rate is 4.77%, which is nearly flat to the current 10-year treasury. among the factors we considered were refinancing at a much higher rate, along with the potential for reduction in loan proceeds, thus requiring additional equity capital. For these reasons, the impact of the refinancing would have resulted in a substantial ROE reduction associated with this investment. We also anticipate deploying the $100 million of freed-up capital at a higher ROE than we currently have. While this proactive sale slightly delays reaching full dividend coverage by year-end as it previously anticipated, it reflects the correct course of action from a corporate finance, risk management, and strategic perspective. Once the sale of Albertsons closes, our remaining net lease portfolio will be concentrated in two investments. The first is the Aurora, Colorado office net lease, where we are currently in negotiations with the tenant regarding a lease extension. The second is the Aurora, Colorado office net lease, where we are currently in negotiations with the tenant regarding a lease extension. Tentatives indicated a desire to stay at the property with some anticipated TI contributions from Bryce Meyer. The debt on this asset matures this August, and we are currently working with the servicer on a maturity extension. The second is the Indianapolis office and lab space property. While there are four and a half years remaining on this lease, the tenant has put us on notice that we'll not be planning to renew. We are exploring all options to maximize value and achieve the best outcome, which may include the as-is sale of the property with the current lease in place. The debt on this does not come due until October 2027. As always, please refer to our supplement, which contains more detailed information on all the NetLease assets. Moving to the watch list. During the quarter, we continued to make progress. Three watch list loans were resolved, totaling $99 million, and while two loans were added, there was a combined net reduction of $30 million. Important. Importantly, we are scheduled to continue reducing exposure in the back half of 2026, given the occupancy improvements of each of the remaining underlying properties. On the REO side, we now have two multifamily properties under contract for sale. The remaining assets each have a timeline for resolution, some of which are planned for this year. Andy will provide more details in a moment. In closing, as we look at the second half of the year, we expect to continue to recycle capital and grow the loan book to approximately $3.5 billion circa year-end. At the same time, ongoing originations will continue to improve the portfolio composition with lower average loan sizes and reduced concentrations focused on more multifamily and less office. I will also note the composition of the portfolio is on the verge of predominantly post-rate hike originations. Given this progress, along with the continued tailwinds in the CRE debt capital markets, We also expect to issue our second CLO this year. This will mark the first time we issued two CLOs in the same year. We are encouraged by the continued progress we are making with each passing quarter, and we are optimistic about our ability to grow earnings and reestablish positive dividend coverage. With that, I will turn the call over to our president, Andy Witt. Andy?.

Thank you, Mike. During the second quarter, we continued to make solid progress across all areas of the business. The focus remains on growing the underlying loan portfolio through new originations fueled by capital primarily generated from the resolution of watch list loans and REO assets. As Mike highlighted, Bright Spires Originations activity has been healthy. We continue to see ample deal flow with our year-to-date pipeline volume trending well ahead of 2025. The market continues to be primarily driven by an abundance of multifamily and refinancings. multifamily continue to center around 250 basis points over SOFR. Warehouse lenders remain active and constructive, and the 2026 CRE-CLO market issuance stands at approximately $29 billion across 28 deals, just shy of issuance for the full year 2025. Year to date, Brightspire has committed $892 million of capital across 24 loans with an average loan balance of $37 million. Loan Origination's activity for the second quarter consisted of 10 loans with an aggregate commitment of $319 million. Repayments during the quarter consisted of $123 million across seven positions, including three watch list loans. of quarter end, the loan portfolio is comprised of 106 loans and an aggregate loan balance of approximately 2.9 billion, a net increase of nearly 200 million quarter over quarter. weighted average loan balance across the entire portfolio is 27 million and has a weighted average risk ranking of 3.0. As it relates to portfolio management, during the second quarter, exposure to watch list loans continues to be directionally positive, despite two additions to the loan list. The $11 million Denver office loan added to the watch list during the quarter is expected to be sold in the near term. During the quarter, we also added a $57 million Las Vegas multifamily loan to the watch list. In terms of watch list updates, the Austin, Texas multifamily loan has experienced positive recent leasing momentum, marking a significant turnaround in performance at the asset level. The property is currently operating near stabilized occupancy levels. The Dallas office loan, our most tenured watch list loan, is a approaching 70% occupancy and is expected to improve. We are encouraged by the positive progress at both properties, and this may lead to resolutions in the short term. Watchlist resolutions during the quarter consisted of three repayments for a total of $99 million, resulting in $30 million net reduction in watchlist loan exposure. Currently, the watchlist is comprised of four loans with an aggregate loan balance of $136 million. Turning to the REL front, there are six properties with a gross book value of $330 million, of which two multifamily assets with a combined NAV of $62 million are under contract for sale. The remaining two multifamily assets with a combined net asset value of $330 million value of $84 million are expected to be in the market over the next few quarters. We continue to make progress on the execution of the value-add programs at both the Arlington, Texas, and Dallas, Texas multifamily properties. Under Bright Spires ownership, our in-house asset management team is making progress at these assets, bringing their resolutions closer. The final two REO properties consist of the San Jose Hotel and the Santa Clara Multifamily Predevelopment Property. As for the Santa Clara Predevelopment Property, we continue to remain patient as the market recovery currently underway continues to gain momentum. of note, the Bay Area is experiencing the largest rent increases in the country and the Santa Clara property is benefiting from these improvements. Lastly, with regard to the San Jose hotel loan, we are making substantial progress addressing deferred maintenance, including elevator retrofits. The hotel has seamlessly hosted the major recent sporting events, and we continue to target a resolution in 2027. In summary, we made meaningful progress during the quarter in all phases of the business. and the results were in line with expectations. Looking ahead, our focus remains on executing our business objectives, which will result in portfolio and earnings growth. With that, I will turn the call over to Frank Saracino, our Chief Financial Officer. Frank?.

Thank you, Andy, and good morning, everyone. For the second quarter, we generated adjusted D at $16.8 million, or 13 cents per share. Second quarter DE was $15.8 million or 12 cents per share, which includes specific reserves of approximately $1 million. Additionally, we reported total company gap net loss of 18.3 million or 15 cents per share, which also includes approximately $9 million of operating real estate impairment related the two legacy retail triple net assets and an RE owned multifamily property. First, the two legacy retail triple net assets. Earlier this year, we received notice of default on mortgage notes payable cross-collateralized by five retail triple net properties. In April, 2026, the receiver was appointed and took possession and full control of one triple net lease Indiana retail property, requiring deconsolidation of the related assets and liabilities from the company's consolidated balance sheet. resulted in our recording a $2.4 million operating real estate impairment charge in the second quarter of 2026. In July, a second receiver was appointed and took possession and full control of one triple net lease asset, Illinois retail property. As a result, we will deconsolidate the related assets and liabilities from the company's consolidated balance sheet in the third quarter. Accordingly, we also recorded an impairment charge of $3.1 million during the second quarter. Importantly, these gap impairment charge had an immaterial impact on our undepreciated book value as we had written down both investments two years ago. Next, as Mike mentioned earlier, during the second quarter, we agreed to sell a previously REO'd multifamily property located in Mesa, Arizona. Based on expected net sales proceeds, we recorded a gap impairment charge of approximately $3.8 million and an approximate $6.5 million reduction to underappreciated books value. We expect the sale of this property to close during the third quarter. Quarter over quarter, total company gap net book value decreased to $6.81 per share from $7.05 in the first quarter. undepreciated book value decreased to $8.10 per share from $8.24. The change is mainly attributable to an increase in our CISO reserves and the real estate impairments discussed earlier, offset by share repurchases. Looking at CECL reserves, during the second quarter, we recorded and charged off specific CECL reserves over approximately $1 million resulting from the resolution of our three risk-ranked five loans. for general CECL provision increased to $100 million or 327 basis points on total loan commitments. compared to $87 million of 306 basis points reported in the first quarter. was driven by macroeconomic conditions as well as specific inputs on certain ones. As Mike highlighted earlier, during the second quarter, we repurchased a little over 3.8 million shares for approximately $21 million at an average share price of $5.46. This resulted in an $0.08 increase to the company's underappreciated book value per share. Following this activity, we have approximately $29 million remaining under our stock repurchase program. Our debt to assets ratio is 70% and our debt to equity ratio is 2.7 times. And finally, our liquidity as of today stands at approximately $131 million. This includes 45 million of cash, 30 million available under our credit facility, and approximately 56 million of approved but undrawn borrowings available. on our warehouse lines. This concludes our prepared remarks, and with that, let's open it up for questions. Operator?.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. If you have additional questions, you may re-enter the question queue. time we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. And the first question will come from Gabe Pogge from BTIG. Please go ahead.

Hey guys, it's Gabe at Raymond James. Can you guys talk about... We go forward in conjunction with loan portfolio.

And I mean, you're talking about $3.5 billion by the end of the year. You're approaching $3 billion. And I'll perform for the loan.

and just how do we think about kind of the top growth. Dave, you're breaking up. We can't hear you. You're breaking up, Dave. Can you guys hear me? No, we can't.

Sorry, I'll try that one again. It's Gabe at Raymond James. Can you talk about how to think about the run rate for DE on a go forward basis in conjunction with the significant loan portfolio growth that you guys have achieved? Right, you're almost at three billion now, getting to three and a half billion by the end of the year. How should we think about that kind of waterfall down to the bottom line while you're also working with watch list REO.

Right. So they go hand in hand, as we've emphasized before, a lot of this capital for redeployment to the loan book is coming from the REO, some of which is completely unlevered and some which is very low levered. all of which is pretty much a drag on earnings right now, because the REO yield is low. some of the multifamily assets are still, they're covering OpEx, but they're in lease up. So as we pull that forward and we liquidate that portfolio, that'll get funneled into the loan book. As we said, we expect the loan book to get to three and a half billion. And at the three and a half billion, we thought, I guess, indirectly, I'm giving you forward guidance, but I mean, we thought by $3.5 billion, we would be covering the dividend. But for the fact, as we said on the call, we elected to hit an unsolicited bid on Albertsons, which we thought was an extraordinary bid. So we did that. So that's going to put us back a little bit. So as we move into 2027, the goal is to hit an unsolicited to get the loan book closer to $4 billion by mid-year. And I think that as you get to Q2, Q3 2007, that's where we probably see more positive dividend coverage as we get to beyond $3.5 billion and we redeploy the capital from Albertsons at what could be about 150 basis point higher ROI. we even were getting today. So the sale of the Albertsons put out, put out covering covering the dividend by, you know, maybe two quarters. All good. I still think we'll get much closer to that than where we are today.

Got it. A quick follow-up on Texas and Arizona. Mike, you had been kind of clairvoyant talking about pending issues in Texas and Arizona kind of over the course of heading into 2026. It was interesting to see you guys go back into Texas with three new loans, Arizona with two loans. Can you just talk about the landscape? there the opportunity set to kind of clean up some other folks problems thank you well.

problems and it goes both ways, right? We're selling things at, in some cases, yes, below where our loan amount was. So there's been a reset in that market and that is fueling a lot of asset sales right now. We've spoken about this before where lenders are really pushing borrowers to either execute themselves, which could amount to a short sale, and we've done some of the refinancing ourselves of our own short sales on market terms, or just straight foreclosures, of which we've done as well. So we think a lot of that product that was done in 21-22 is refueling the pipeline for transaction sales, all at a reset basis. And we're glad to go into that market again at much higher debt yields than we were in during the interest rate bubble.

and do you have anything you would add to that no i i think i mean the the markets generally you know you're starting to see supply tail off in terms of new construction and you're continuing to see job growth and and positive dynamics from an in migration perspective so So our general view is positive, and we think the setup is rather good for rent increases as we move into 2027 and beyond, given the lack of new supply coming in behind it.

Thank you, guys. Thanks, Gabe. And the next question comes from Tom Catherwood from BTIG. Please go ahead.

Thanks and good morning everybody Maybe Mike just sticking with that, you know the 3.5 billion dollar portfolio goal by year-end in the past You know, you'd always talked about one of the keys to achieving that was was selling down some of the REO repatriating that capital with the ten-year remaining for six years and above. Does that slow the pace, especially for multifamily assets, slow the pace of selling those and potentially push $3.5 billion out? Or are you willing to run leverage a little bit higher into the end of the year?.

to meet that target goal? I think by definition, as we get there, we're going to be wanting to leverage a little bit higher in the loan book. We're going to do a CLO, you know, fourth quarter. I won't say much more about it, but that leverage is 8% higher than what you get in the loan book. So the leverage will pick up a little bit more. Again, But yes, interest rates being where they are, are no one's friend. It's hurting everyone, but it is what it is. But we're we're we're seeing a lot of buyers actually moving to the floating rate part of the market away from the five year where they're getting more more done. From what we understand, there are plenty of applications sitting at Fannie and Freddie for five year deals waiting for the five year to take down. We don't know if that's going to happen in In the meantime, the bridge market is open. The CLO market is very liquid with the amount of deals done already this year, surpassing that of last year. So no, we're pretty much full speed ahead. We may pause if we see bids come in on an asset that we really don't think reflect the value. We're always looking at the opportunity cost of capital as well, sitting on REO versus reinvesting at a much higher ROE. But we plan on forging ahead, despite where rates are. I think it would probably take another 25 basis points up from here, where the 10-year gets closer to 5%, where you see the market have a big impact. We're still seeing buyers active in the market at cap rates, you know, at around where treasuries are, which shows their expression of optimism around what Andy alluded to earlier, no supply coming in 2027 and rent increases from that point on. So the market is still bidding things pretty aggressively in anticipation of rent growth.

Got it. Appreciate that, Mike. And then last one for me, maybe unpacking the CECL uptick a bit more. Obviously, you talked about working through a number of the watch list loans. There's no more five rated ones there. You had the two migrations, but it was a pretty substantial uptick. tick on a percentage basis of the overall portfolio in CECL. And Frank, I know you mentioned some was more on the specific side, some was more on the portfolio side, but I'm I guess, what had the bigger contribution to that increase? Was it on specific assets, like maybe the Las Vegas multifamily that was added to the watch list? Or is this just portfolio-wide, you were more concerned about economic conditions?.

So I think that, you know, we don't give a lot of insight, but it's probably 50-50 between specific and economic conditions. what we still have a fair number of office loans and we take a hard look at those loans every quarter, but also remember we generated a bunch of new loans during the quarter and that obviously adds CECL.